A Grand Court jury on Monday found Rolan Welcome and Antascio Rankine guilty of conspiracy to murder Sven Connor, who was shot dead in a hail of bullets inside his East End home in 2023.
The jury of eight women and four men delivered their unanimous verdicts after two-and-a-half days of deliberations at the end of the three-week trial.
Jurors also found both men guilty of possession of an unlicensed firearm. They were unanimous in this verdict against Rankine, while delivering a majority verdict of 10-2 against Welcome.
Rankine, 30, remained passive faced in the dock in the courthouse as the verdicts were read. Welcome, 34, who had been attending the trial via video link from Northward prison, was seen on camera walking out of the room immediately after the verdicts were delivered.
Justice Cheryll Richards set 4 April as the sentencing date for both men, who remain remanded in custody.
‘Execution by firing squad’
During the trial, the jury had heard that Connor, 42, had been shot dead in an “execution by firing squad” when bullets from two separate guns – a semi-automatic Glock pistol and a revolver – were fired through the windows of his Fiddlers Way home on the night of 7 Dec. 2023. Neither weapon was recovered.
CCTV footage had captured images of four men — including Rankine, Welcome and two other suspects that have never been identified — outside Connor’s home immediately before the gunfire started.
Neither Welcome nor Rankine opted to give evidence during the trial.
Welcome had admitted to police that he had been present at the scene but, according to his lawyer, Charles Miskin, KC, this was only out of fear and he was not a willing participant. Welcome had denied to police any part in the conspiracy to kill Connor or about knowing that firearms were being carried.
Rankine’s lawyer, Liam Walker, KC, denied that his client was at the scene and said that the individual that prosecutors claimed was Rankine in CCTV footage was “plainly” not him. Richards had cautioned the jury that they could not convict Rankine unless they were convinced that witness identification placed him at the scene of the murder.
The Crown prosecution team, led by Barnaby Jameson, KC, had told the jury that Welcome, who had been carrying a machete, had put it down at the scene because he knew the guns were available and that he appeared calm, in control and “calling the shots”.
Anonymous witness
During the trial, the jury had heard from ‘Witness A’, a person who said they saw Rankine and Welcome involved in an altercation with Connor shortly before the shooting started, during which Rankine threw a rock at Connor. The witness, who lived nearby, described hearing several shots being fired during the fatal shooting.
The witness had been given anonymity and gave evidence via video, with their voice disguised with a voice modulator. Only the jury and the judge could see the witness and hear their real voice.
As she thanked the jury members for their service, Richards cautioned them never to reveal the identity of the witness, who had been granted life-long anonymity by the court.
The judge ordered social inquiry reports for both defendants, and a victim impact report from Connor’s mother is also expected to be submitted to the court prior to sentencing.
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